


Strange Memories

by timeywimeyshenanigans



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: AU, Cross-over..ish, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-03
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-28 01:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/668624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeywimeyshenanigans/pseuds/timeywimeyshenanigans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock finds his old fob watch. This leads to some strange events.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was encouraged to do this. Why do people encourage me?

Let's face it, 221 B had been a cluttered mess for a while. John, of course, eventually got fed up and demanded that the flat becomes at least somewhat liveable. At first, Sherlock scoffed at the idea and claimed that it would be a waste of time, but when John pointed out that he could probably find some of the important case files he had been missing, well, even Sherlock had to admit that they hadn't been really able to see all of the floor for a while. Grudgingly, he went to work on the living room while John focused on the kitchen.  
About an hour into the cleaning process, old things started to pop up again, folders from old cases, a cell phone John had lost awhile back, and other odds and ends. And yet, all of them paled in comparison to Sherlock finding his old pocket-watch. He acted almost giddy upon seeing it, which John found strange, never knowing Sherlock to be the sentimental type, or one to place value on material goods at all, really. Curious, he went over to go see what had caught his friends attention. Upon seeing the old fob watch with the alien, unreadable script on it, which he recognised immediately, the colour drained from his face and his voice came out strained.  
“What exactly do you have there?”  
Sherlock looked up at him with a slight smile, and replied, “This was a fob watch of mine. I've had it for years. For some reason, I have a strange attachment to it. Also, I think I recognize the symbols engraved into it, though I can't for the life of me remember what they mean or any what language they're from. Odd. I'd had almost forgotten about this thing. Anyway, why do you ask?”  
John feigned a grin and tried to act at ease, not wanting Sherlock to find out, so he replied, “Just curious, that's all. Anyway, we should get back to cleaning, don't you think?”  
Sherlock clearly saw through John's façade, but he shrugged it off anyway and just nodded cordially as he slipped the fob watch into his pocket.  
“Yes, that would probably be best.”  
As John walked back to the kitchen, he tried to force himself to calm down. After all, it would only be bad if Sherlock were to actually open the fob watch, and, so far, that hadn't happened. No need to panic. None at all, just as long as Sherlock _didn't open the fob watch_. Everything was going to be fine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dreams begin

What John hadn't expected was that the fob watch would start affecting Sherlock so quickly after it had been rediscovered. You see, that night Sherlock began to have..strange dreams. Dreams about impossible, incredible, fantastic, brilliant, upsetting things. Part of him revelled in the dreams and the amazing things he could do, but, in another sense, the dreams felt more like nightmares. So many faces seemed to pass through his mind, names barely attached, names like 'Rose' or 'Amy'. In his dreams, the names were also connected with a certain sense of..fondness, affection, caring? He didn't know how to describe it, but they also seemed inherently part of a past that he couldn't quite reach. Watson had been there two, dressed in 1800's period pieces, for some reasons. He wasn't in as many as the others, but they seemed..clearer than the others. Almost more like memories than dreams, but of course that was preposterous. I mean, in the dreams he was able to do things like travel through time and visit alien planets of that sort. Obviously just something made up within his own mind, right?  
That wasn't the strangest part though. It was when he was caught somewhere between awake and asleep, Sherlock swore he could almost hear...whisperings coming from the fob watch. He wasn't sure when they were saying, only hearing the noise rather than the words, but, still, it unnerved him But it was quickly forgotten the moment he either slipped back into a dream-filled slumber or fully came to for the day.  
Each day he either woke up energetic and well-rested, usually when his dreams had felt like a grand, romantic adventure, and it usually made him lust even more for the excitement of a case,or, when someone close, even if a figment of his imagination, or for a matter, himself died (which he had done, if he remembered correctly, on eleven different accounts, each time becoming a new person), he felt as if he hadn't slept for weeks and went into a bit of a slump. John didn't find this behaviour that unusual for Sherlock, but it had seemed to have gotten worse and the changes more frequent, so he inquired a bit into the matter.  
“Sherlock, are you, you know, all right?”  
Sherlock gave him the throw-away answer of 'Yeah, fine' before dodging further conversation with a question of his own.  
“John we've never..well, we've never met before Stamford introduced us to be flatmates, correct?”  
A brief look of panic passed over John's face, but it was quick enough that Sherlock either didn't catch it or ignored it.  
“No, of course not, why?”  
Sherlock didn't even bother to answer his question this time, just briefly reflecting on his response before inquiring, “And you've never worn Victorian-era style of clothing?”  
John pretended to be bemused, giving a slightly uncomfortable laugh, replying, “no, not that I can think of. Again, may I ask, why?”  
Sherlock was briefly pulled out of thought by this, giving John an incredibly fake smile he usually only reserved for the paparazzi, and telling him, “Oh, nothing. Just, a strange dream I had, and I was curious, that's all. Nothing to worry about.”  
Normally John would have either ignored Sherlock acting strange or thought it was suspicious, but this time he knew better. He knew that if Sherlock was asking about the dreams he was also starting to doubt that they were just, well, dreams, and that was very not good for either of them. John felt a slight surge of panic, but, again, he told himself not to worry, not yet. It's not like Sherlock had gotten particularly curious about the fob watch itself, just the dreams. He would never..never _dream_ of opening it, at least, not so soon. Nothing to worry about.


	3. Chapter 3

It was few weeks in before Sherlock started to notice how much the dreams had effected him. He started remembering rather than dreaming, vivid in his mind as experiences, not fantasies. It was unnerving, particularly when it started interfering with his work. It was noticeable starting a few weeks ago, when Lestrade asked him about an unusual case and his immediate response was to ask if he had considered alien involvement, the wounds reflecting numerous weapons he had seen across the universe, none of them human. When Lestrade gave him a slightly stunned look and said, “No, we don't think there's any involvement from another country,” Sherlock gave him an 'My god you're foolish look' and stated decisively, “I meant 'alien' in the extraterrestrial sense.”  
Lestrade gives him a slightly stunned look, raising his eyebrows and thinking _Oh dear, he's finally snapped._  
John tried to laugh it off despite the growing fear inside him, taking Sherlock by the arm and telling Lestrade, “Sorry Greg. It appears that Sherlock's doing that thing again where he doesn't sleep for days on end and forgets to actually tell me. I'm going to take him home, we'll contact you later, okay?”  
Lestrade gave a slight nod, still looking sceptical, but let them go anyway. John got Sherlock home as quickly as possible, finding it hard to make eye contact with him as Sherlock looked at him with a hint of panic in his eyes and interrogated him.  
“John, I've been having incredibly restful nights.”  
“I know.”  
“So why did you lie to Lestrade?”  
“You were talking about aliens, Sherlock, what was I supposed to do?”  
It was only then that Sherlock seemed to realise the absurdity of what he had said to Lestrade, and he gave a slightly wide-eyed look towards John, asking, “John, why on Earth would I have said that? It goes against all logic and reason.”  
“I don't know, Sherlock.”  
“Please. Please don't lie to me John, I’m fairly certain you know.”  
John turned to his friend, not wanting to place the burden of memories on his friend quite yet, just gave a sigh and said, “We'll discuss it more when we get to the flat, okay?”  
Sherlock begrudgingly agreed and waited impatiently to arrive at the flat, fidgeting with the fob watch all the while. As soon as they arrived, Sherlock bounded out of the cab as quickly as possible, dragging John behind him, and rushed into the flat, slamming the door behind and looking for an explanation.  
John felt a sense of dread, so he just simply held out his hand and softly asked, “Could you give me the watch, at least for a while?”  
“What on Earth for?”  
“It's having some..strange effects on you, Sherlock.”  
“Balderdash, John. Now what's going on?!”  
John just looked down at the watch and back up at Sherlock, his hand still extended.  
“Please. Just give me the watch.”  
If it had been anyone else, Sherlock would have scoffed at the notion, but for John, he could give it up. John would explain when he was ready to tell him, and he supposed, despite his burning curiosity, that he could wait. He reluctantly handed it over, and instantly he felt a change. The flashbacks were much foggier, the memories faded back into being dreams, he felt more like himself and less like he was a time-lord stranger from Gallifrey. Still, he couldn't deny that he wanted to know what this whole mess had been about, but he knew not to bring it up for awhile.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been about a week since John had taken the fob watch back, and despite Sherlock's silence, he felt guilty over not telling him yet. He knew his friend was probably burning with curiosity, but he had still felt that just keeping this from him would be better than giving Sherlock back his past. Sherlock had gotten better, but occasionally, John would notice his eyes glaze over as he seemed to be remembering. John started to wonder if it really was time to just open it. As he turned the watch over in his hands absent-mindedly, he reflected on what he had been told, that Sherlock was to remain in hiding, living out a human life, unless there was an absolute emergency. John knew this didn't qualify, but every time he witnessed the far-off look on his friend, he was torn. He knew how much the memories would hurt his best friend, his Doctor, but he also could barely look at the pain he was already was in. Surely it was better to know oneself than live a lie, right? Eventually, John couldn't stand it any more, and he called Sherlock in.  
Sherlock walked in casually, not really expecting anything serious to happen. John gestured for him to sit in the chair opposite him, and asked him to hold out his hand. Slightly confused, but compliant, Sherlock did as he was told and John promptly placed the watch in it, letting out a small sigh as he did so.  
“Sherlock, look, at first, I thought that I would be the one to do this. But then I realized, none of this is really my choice to make. If you just open the watch, everything will be explained, but, before you do, just know this. You open the watch and everything, everything, comes back. You will know who all those faces are, you will know why they're no longer around. You will remember the most amazing things in this universe, and you will also know pain like no other creature, but you will know it all.”  
Without a moment's hesitation, Sherlock clicked it open, his curiosity far overriding any of his doubts.


	5. Chapter 5

HE watched the clock-face, light pouring out, mesmerised as the memories came back until it was finally over. John carefully studied Sherlock's reaction, ready to snap it close at the first sign of distress. And yet, his face was completely passive as he watched, and once it ended, he simply laid his head back and closed his eyes. Then, after only a moment or two, his eyes snapped open, instantly brighter and more alert, and there was a noticeable, undefinable shift in his face. He quickly sprung up and started towards John, lifting him up in his arms in an excited manner. Sherlock's words came out as fast as if he had been explaining a deduction, his eyes bright and his cheeks flushed, saying, “John. John! A mister John Watson, my companion, the man I'm in love with, oh, John how could I forget! This, this is brilliant, fantastic amazing! My mind, oh I thought I was sooo clever, but my mind was so, so tiny. I barely even knew the Earth went around the sun! Now I know every planet that goes around every sun, billions upon billions of stars, and I can name them all, hell, I've been to half of them. Over a thousand years of knowledge that I posses, it's amazing, John. And the best part, oh, the best part, the journey's that you and I can take, right now, across all of space and time. Speaking of which, where is the Tardis, I can't remember for the life of me where I placed her.”  
Sherlock smiled up at John, only to meet a concerned expression. This confused him, he thought that John would appreciate that they could go back to adventuring, but he showed no signs of sharing his enthusiasm. In fact, he looked almost..disappointed.  
“Something wrong?”  
“Sherlock. Exactly how much do you remember?”  
Sherlock looked slightly taken aback by this, and with a wave of his hand he quickly dismissed this.   
“Enough. I mean, certainly there's still some gaps that have yet to fill, in but...”  
That's when the joy started to be matched with the pain. The fondness that he had viewed all of his past companions with became mixed with the bitterness of loosing them, and the faster the memories came, nearly knocking the breath out of him with their intensity. He vaguely reached out for something until hew grabbed something solid, which happened to be John's arm, and looked back up, this time his eyes bleary and his voice strained. John was tremendously worried, and Sherlock's next words did nothing to alleviate that.   
“John I...I remember all of it. It's so clear, it shouldn't be that clear, not after centuries, but all of it is. I watched them _burn_ , John, and that's not all I did. I didn't just watched it, I made it happen, I..I've killed entire _species_. And I thought serial killers were bad, but, they're incomparable to me. I'm more than a freak, I'm a monster. The most feared being in the universe. Now, now I know why I hid, chose to be human. It's because I shouldn't be allowed to exist, all I can seem to do is destroy, a warrior in a time of peace. We should have gotten rid of that damn watch, should have thrown it in the sun, made sure, that I, the time lord version of myself, would never reappear.”  
Sherlock felt the weight of the universe come crashing down on him, but John still steadied him. He grasped Sherlock's shoulder's firmly, and forced him to make eye contact.  
“Don't say.., don't say terrible things like that. You are good, you are brilliant, you are far from a monster, Doctor, Sherlock, whomever you want to be. You are a saviour, you've rescued this world, hell, the entire universe, countless times, as you were when I first met you. Remember? You are wonderful. You weren’t hiding, you weren't trying to keep yourself fo9rm being destructive, when you chose to be human. You just..you just needed to have a break for awhile, much like anyone does. Now, would it have been okay if you lived out a full human life? Of course, but that doesn't mean it's bad for you to have come back. Listen, I realise that right now, with everything coming back at once, it's hard to see all the good you;ve3 done. But just wait for a bit, all right? Come on, let's head back to the Tardis, I think it will help you see how much you're still needed, make things better.”  
Sherlock gave a small nod, and even managed a smile to accompany it. He wasn't exactly better, John knew that, but he was better at hiding his emotions nonetheless. He gestured for John to lead the way, and they both headed out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter to finish up the story

The Tardis was actually remarkably close. Specifically, it was in the same building, for the Tardis had taken the shape of one 221C. John went outside the flat and took a few steps before stopping, simply stating, “We're here.”  
“What?”  
“Don't you remember? You had the Chameleon Circuit fixed before you came back. This building had never had a 221C before we showed up. Even the interior was disguised if opened without the right key.”  
John then rooted through his pockets for a moment before putting on a smirk and saying, “Luckily, I have the right key.”  
He placed in the lock and turned, pushing open the door and revealing the fantastic Tardis exterior, exactly as Sherlock had remembered it.   
“Oh, you sexy thing, how I missed you.”  
He then brightened up by several degrees and started to dash about, running his hands over as many things as possible. Occasionally he would stop an inspect something, then push a button or pull a lever. John watched curiously, wondering what the significance of Sherlock’s actions. After about 30 minutes of going about the Tardis, Sherlock stopped at the console and leaned against it, his legs crossed, his arms folded, and a smirk on his face.  
“Well, John, everything seems to be in order. Now come one, it's been years, I'm sick of staying in one place. I assume you'll do me the honour of continuing to be my companion?”  
John gave a smile and nod, saying, “Why, of course. I wouldn't miss it for the universe itself.”  
“Excellent. Now, my only remaining question for you, John Hamish Watson...”  
Sherlock then stepped closer, until their faces were inches apart, and John just said a cool, “Yes, Sherlock?”  
“Where to next?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! Okay, so, I may have had a bit too much fun writing this. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have even written beyond the first chapter, but I was encouraged and so I did. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
